• Named as the Plymouth Whalers Most Valuable Player for the 2009 playoffs, Hackett went 6-5-0 with a 3.01 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage, facing more than 40 shots in five of the 11 games. He helped lead the team over the Sarnia Sting in the first round, before losing to the number one ranked Windsor Spitfires in the conference semi-final.

• After starting the 2008-09 season as the back-up goaltender for the Whalers, he worked his way to the number one spot by November and led Plymouth to a fourth place finish in the Western Conference with a 34-15-3-0 record in 55 games. His .913 save-percentage ranked eighth in the Ontario Hockey League.

• Matt is the nephew of former NHL goaltender Jeff Hackett. Jeff played 500 NHL games with six teams (NYI, SJ, CHI, MTL, BOS, PHI) between 1988-89 and 2003-04.

• He cites his uncle as his childhood hockey hero – “I watched all his games growing up and I wanted to be just like him. He taught me everything about being a goalie”. He also wears number 31 in honor of his uncle.

• The London Junior Knights product started skating at the age of four after growing a passion for the game in neighborhood road hockey games. His first hockey team was the London Nationals.

• Winning the Bell Canada Cup, held at the Corel Centre (now Scotiabank Place), when he was 11 years old is his most memorable hockey achievement – “the trophy was taller than me”.

• If he could invite any three people to dinner he would choose Ryan Miller, Roberto Luongo and Carey Price “because they are my three favorite goalies and I could learn a lot from them”.

• One thing he couldn’t live without is music and if he could trade places with anyone for a day he’d trade with Tiger Woods.